Learning in Singapore: Sustainable Planning and Management

Some 34 officials from six countries—Indonesia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Uzbekistan and Romania—visited Singapore in June to learn how to plan, manage and implement complex urban infrastructure projects. They were brought together for a sustainable urban planning and management workshop that was conducted by the Centre for Liveable Cities, in partnership with the World Bank and Infrastructure Asia, an initiative by the Singapore government to support Asia’s economic and social growth through infrastructure development.

Held in June 2019, the five-day event kickstarted with an introduction to Singapore’s integrated urban planning. The Centre’s executive director, Khoo Teng Chye, welcome the guests by outlining the country’s policies and initiatives that have created its highly liveable environment.

Participants then embarked on a walking tour of the Tanjong Pagar district led by the Centre’s Executive Fellow, Michael Koh. He explained Singapore’s core urban planning approaches in conservation, public space activation, transport-oriented planning and public-private partnerships in the development of real estate, the results of which participants saw up-close in key developments such as Pinnacle@Duxton, the Oasia Downtown Hotel, Tanjong Pagar Centre and MRT station, and the Duxton Hill conservation district.

Back in the Centre, participants then discussed their respective cities’ challenges in planning and implementing infrastructure projects. Facilitators from the World Bank and the Centre helped them to formulate the questions to address in the coming days. These covered topics ranging from water management and treatment to design and planning of urban spaces, tourism development, and climate change adaptation.

The following four days of the workshop zoomed in on different aspects of urban planning, including integrated planning, sustainable city, harnessing technology and financing infrastructure. Each day focused on one aspect as participants examined case studies and best practices from Singapore and other countries. To help them reflect on the day’s proceedings, each session closed with an integrated planning clinic run by the World Bank’s Task Team Leaders as well as the Centre’s in-house and invited experts. Finally, the following day also kickstarted with a recap session that was facilitated by the World Bank’s Washington DC-based expert Steffen Janus and the Centre’s Deputy Director for Research Ken Lee.

On day four of the workshop, participants heard from a panel on the basic financing instruments of urban infrastructure, as well as the challenges they might face back home. The experts, comprising Dr Jin Murakami (Singapore University of Technology and Design), Dirk Sommer (International Finance Corporation), Phua Yee Farn (Standard & Poor’s) and Jeff Delmon (World Bank), also spoke about funding models, land value capture, public-private partnerships, credit rating and bond markets.

In addition, the participants met with representatives of more than 30 firms—from start-ups to established players—representing various sectors to discuss solutions to urban development-related challenges. The Singapore-based companies included GuocoLand and Far East International from the real estate sector; Meinhardt and Surbana-Jurong from the engineering and development industry; Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl and Google from design and technology; as well as DBS and Standard & Poor’s from the finance sector. These private companies complemented the public sector input, providing participants a more complete picture of how best to manage complex urban infrastructure projects.

Following four productive days, the participants drew up an action plan to tackle the challenges they had identified. They then presented their ideas to all so as to receive feedback and learn from one another.

The participants’ excellent presentations impressed the invited guests, Abhas Jha and Jyoti Shukla from the World Bank’s Singapore office, the Centre’s executive director Khoo and Loh Ah Tuan from environmental technology firm Keppel Seghers Engineering Singapore. They noted that the output demonstrated that the participants had clearly gained new insights on issues of integrated planning, effective financing models and sustainable urban development.